By PRESTON FASSEL (Encyclopacalypse Publications; 2021)
Another publication whose artistic qualities don’t really matter. This is to say that LANDIS, written by The Daily Grindhouse’s Preston Fassel, is a must-read due to the fact that, simply, it’s the only biography that exists on the late Bill Landis (1959-2008). And it’s a good one: succinct, intelligent and as authoritative as it’s possible to get when writing about this notoriously secretive individual. Plus it’s only 110 pages, so you really have no excuse not to read it.
…the only biography that exists on the late Bill Landis (1959-2008). And it’s a good one…
Landis was one of the premiere chroniclers of what is today known as Grindhouse cinema, together with Psychotronic’s Michael Weldon and Gore Gazette’s Rick Sullivan. Landis stood out in that company due to the fact that Weldon and Sullivan came off as suburbanites dipping into the 42nd Street (or forty deuce) scene for kicks, whereas Landis was very much of that milieu, a tortured addict who in addition to writing in-depth reportage on Grindhouse fare—collected in Sleazoid Express—hustled and performed in numerous 1980s-era porno films.
…a welcome tribute to an important but frustratingly little known genre legend.
Landis provided autobiographical sketches in the novella “The Story of A Fake Man on 42nd Street” (contained in Sleazoid’s Fall 1985 issue) and the 1995 Village Voice article “Body for Rent,” neither of which offered a comprehensive accounting of his existence. Filling in the particulars of that life, as Fassel readily acknowledges, was no easy task.
Landis was born into a military family run by a PTSD-afflicted WWII veteran father and a pill-popping mother. The family’s places of residence included England and New Orleans, where Landis claims to have been raped by some unidentified individual at age six. Upon relocating to New York City in the 1970s Landis developed a fascination with the Times Square subculture and, after graduating from NYU with a business degree, divided his time between Wall Street and the Deuce. Inevitably Landis retreated from the corporate world to work at the Avon theater chain (which operated a venue on 42nd Street) and nurse a growing drug habit. Enter “Bobby Spector,” under which name Landis became a highly sought-after “stunt cock” in NYC lensed porno features.
Things changed when, at the ripe old age of 27, Landis OD’d and nearly died. By that point Sleazoid Express had ceased publication (although it was revived in later years) and Landis had alienated seemingly everyone he knew. Redemption beckoned in the form of Michelle Clifford, a young Floridian with a background even wilder than that of Landis (she being the daughter of a mob-connected Madame). Upon moving to NYC Michelle became Landis’ wife and partner, helping to get him cleaned up and establish a legitimate writing career that resulted in two books: the Kenneth Anger biography ANGER and SLEAZOID EXPRESS: A MIND-TWISTING TOUR THROUGH THE GRINDHOUSE CINEMA OF TIMES SQUARE.
Unfortunately this newfound respectability didn’t last, as at some point (Fassel is unable pinpoint exactly when) Landis began using drugs again. His marriage fell apart and in 2005 Michelle, together with their young daughter Victoria, decamped for Chicago. It was there that a strung-out Landis, attempting to restore his marriage, was felled by a heart attack on December 23, 2008.
Plus it’s only 110 pages, so you really have no excuse not to read it.
Fassel, keep in mind, was unable to get Michelle to consent to an interview, and nor did he ever hear from Victoria (whose current whereabouts, it seems, are unknown). Thus we get little concrete information on Landis during his final years, or the precise nature of his relationship with Michelle (with whom he made several public appearances during the time were separated). That, however, doesn’t detract from LANDIS’ cumulative power, it being a welcome tribute to an important but frustratingly little known genre legend.